10 Best Korean Cookbooks 2020 — Easy Korean Recipes from Cookbooks

Dubbed “YouTube’s Korean Julia Child” by the New York Times, beloved vlogger Maangchi teaches basic technique and step-by-step recipes for everyone—even those who have never made Korean food before.

What do L.A., New York City, Atlanta, and Chicago all have in common? They all have bustling Koreatown neighborhoods—and therefore a thriving Korean restaurant scene. This book forgoes a focus on food from the country of Korea for a look at the fresh, contemporary and inventive recipes of Korean-American cuisine.

Sohui Kim’s cookbook is all about “sohnmat,” a Korean phrase translating roughly to “taste of the hand,” that effortless, homemade touch that makes everyday food taste better. With over 100 recipes, including crisp mung bean pancakes, seaweed soup, and spicy chicken stew, you’ll never run out of new dinner ideas.

Korean barbecue isn’t as simple as just using the right sauces—this explainer will walk you through the differences in cooking time, cooking methods, and the must-have ingredients that make Korean bbq, well, Korean bbq. And, of course, you’ll learn how to make the seven essential sauces.

Memoir meets cookbook in Hi Soo Shin Hepinstall’s portrait of life growing up in Korea. By combining the culinary tradition passed down by her family with lush photography of the country, you really get a sense of what it’s like to be there.

Shin Kim will walk you through the process of making meat-free Korean favorites like kimchi and banchan. Plus, 25 of these 30 recipes can be made vegan!

Chefs of all ages will be able to follow along with the recipes features in Robin Ha’s “comic book cookbook.” The ingredients and cooking steps are laid out in colorful, whimsical illustrations. Among the traditional (and some not-so-traditional) recipes, you’ll be treated to anecdotes and cultural insights from Ha.

Yes, there’s more than one way to make kimchi! Long before the gut-healthy, fermented dish become trendy in the U.S., it was a staple of Korean cuisine—and this cookbook will show you a million (okay, 60) ways to add a little more kimchi to your life.

Hooni Kim’s restaurant Danji won a Michelin Star—the first Korean restaurant to receive the honor. Kim’s focus is on recipes that contain the “Korean culinary trinity”: doenjang (fermented soybean paste), ganjang (soy sauce) and gochujang (fermented red chili paste).